We rely on our oceans for food, ecosystem services, energy and transportation, yet it is a world rarely seen….

Dark Sea by Corey Arnold — *Dark Sea* by Corey Arnold

In a new socially distanced, visually-led exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, the experience of work and play at sea will be displayed through the lens of six seafarers and researchers - from the large-scale panoramic to the intensely intimate - bringing together photography taken around the world, from the reefs of Mexico to the isolation of Antarctica, to document the myriad ways life can be spent at sea.

Perceptions of the sea often recall historical rather than contemporary realities. Through photographs taken by people employed in the maritime world, Exposure: Lives at Sea offers a snapshot into life at sea today, seen through the seafarers’ lens. It will cover isolation and camaraderie, science and survival, climate change and conservation – the lived experience of men and women at sea.

This exhibition is the first to be curated by Laura Boon, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Public Curator: Contemporary Maritime at Royal Museums Greenwich, and was brought together during the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown. She says, “The importance of seafarers has been brought into sharp focus during the covid pandemic, seafarers are key workers and helped keep our supermarkets stocked, and yet hundreds of thousands of them have been stranded at sea. This exhibition will hopefully help bring recognition to the important role seafarer’s play.”

Meet the photographers: